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Sunday, March 7, 2010

Digital deep-cleaning.

In my time spent working on home cleaning products, I've learned that there are two types of cleaning: touch-up cleaning and deep cleaning. Touch-ups are the tidy-ups; the Swiffer wipes, the straighten-ups, the quick once-overs with the vacuum. Deep cleaning is the get-your-bucket-and-bleach-out-style cleaning, the kind that goes down on hands and knees. Less frequent, but much more thorough and hardcore. Hold your TWSSs, if you would.

I'm a neat freak, and as such, am constantly performing touch-ups in my various digital spaces. However, in the spirit of spring cleaning, I've implemented some digital deep cleaning over the past few weeks. Apparently, but not surprisingly, I get just as geeked out over digi-cleaning as I do about Swiffering. Curse you, P&G, and your verb-able products!

Secondly, I gave my blog a little face-lift to go with its shiny new URL. This stuff is probably old hat to you, but I'm feeling pretty fancy about it all. I made it more:

Navigate-able
I've got some tabs going on, and some secondary pages to explore. Please, click away. By moving about and contact info to their own homes, I have a cleaner homepage. Anyone who's seen my white-on-white apartment knows the kind of joy this brings me.

Follow-able
That's right, my pith can now be delivered directly to your hot little reader via RSS. Right now I'm my only subscriber. The button is enormous, which is exactly how buttons should be when you want people to click them. So, I hope you will. Either way, I'm a happy camper.

Searchable
I've added search functionality and a tag cloud to the right-hand navigation. I hope to someday have enough memorable content here to warrant the use of both of these.

Measureable
I am a more than a year behind the eight-ball on tapping into Google Analytics. But, no matter; now that they're set up, I'm elbows-deep in data and optimizing away. Happy happy happy! The map feature allows me to confirm that my mother (Lake in the Hills, IL) is my most loyal reader.

Other digital prunings of note
Cleaning and re-organizing my Reader
Setting up Reader in my HTC Droid Eris
Wiping out and re-building my Tweetdeck groups (went from 10 groups to 2!)
A mass geo-tagging and sorting of Flickr photos
Sorting through and cleaning out my Teux-Deux list

I feel so much better already. And, to keep on top of it, some Lenten Resolutions, of sorts:

My digital to-do list for March
Log interesting nuggets from Analytics data each morning
Remember to favorite things: photos, tweets
Bookmark all tabs to Delicious
Make better use of my Reader; share more

I'm looking forward to seeing how these updates improve my digital experience, and help better express my digital persona. If you have any tips for how you keep your digitae cranking, I would love to hear them! Cheers to spring, all.

Do Dishwasher Duty: Once a week, shake baking soda on a damp sponge and wipe around the machine's edges to remove stuck-on food or stains. To clean the inside, run an empty cycle with Dishwasher Magic, a product designed to kill bacteria like E.coli. The dishes will be safe and sanitized after the rinse cycle is finished. ~Catford Wharf Carpet Cleaners Ltd.